Elective course “Climate-sensitive health counselling” – prevention as an opportunity for people and planet? An interactive, student-led project focusing on prevention and agency in physician’s climate communication

Objective: According to the WHO, anthropogenic climate change poses the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century. However, the link between climate change and human health is not an integral part of medical education in Germany. Within a student-led project, an elective clinical course was designed and successfully implemented, which has been made accessible to undergraduate medical students at the Universities of Giessen and Marburg. The implementation and didactic concept are explained in this article. Methodology: In a participatory format, knowledge is imparted using an action-based, transformative approach. Topics discussed are, amongst others, interactions of climate change and health, transformative action, and health behavior, as well as “green hospital” and the simulation of a “climate-sensitive health counselling”. Lecturers from different disciplines within and beyond medicine are invited as speakers. Results: Overall, the elective was evaluated positively by the participants. The fact that there is a high demand among students for participation in the elective, as well as for the transfer of concepts underlines the need for including this topic into medical education. The implementation and further development of the concept at two universities with different study regulations demonstrates its adaptability. Conclusion: Medical education can raise awareness of the multiple health consequences of the climate crisis, can have a sensitizing and transformative effect on various levels, and can promote climate-sensitive action ability in patient care. In the long term, however, these positive consequences can only be guaranteed by including mandatory education on climate change and health in medical curricula.


General information
Climate change is characterized as the greatest threat to human health in the 21st century by the WHO (WHO 2021: 2). Droughts, heat waves and other extreme weather events will become more frequent, while rising temperatures and rising sea levels could make many populated areas uninhabitable and serve as infectious disease spreading factors (Werner et al. 2020. According to a study by the European Environment Agency in September 2020, 400,000 people in the EU alone are expected to die prematurely each year as a result of air pollution (European Environment Agency 2020: n.d.). Worldwide, the WHO assumes 7 million deaths from air pollution (Kuehn 2014(Kuehn : 1486. Heat as a cause of illness and death is not included in either study. Nevertheless, the heat wave of 2003, which is now estimated to have caused more than 70,000 deaths in Europe, is an example of the impact that more frequent extreme weather events can have on health (Robine et al. 2008: 177). In addition, it is assumed that the healthcare system is responsible for a not inconsiderable share of pollutant emissions in many countries. In Germany, this share is estimated at 5% (Lenzen et al. 2020: e275). The elective with a total of 3 SWS [3 weekly hours/semester] is designed to provide students with an insight into 'Planetary Health', i.e. the connections between the topics of climate change and health. On the one hand, the health effects of the climate crisis are discussed, on the other hand, how the health sector exacerbates this crisis.

Explanation:
The student-organized elective Climate-sensitive health counselling at the JLU Giessen (supervised by Prof. Dr. Michael Knipper) comprises a total of 9 evenings, during which the practical or micro level of the topic is examined. For this purpose, experts will be invited to each of the 9 evening meetings and present a topic. Afterwards, specific questions on the topic are worked on in small groups, which are then presented in the plenary. Towards the end of the semester, a final concluding session takes place to reflect on and apply what has been learned. The Planetary Health Academy (PHA; https://planetary-health-academy.de) is organized by the German Alliance for Climate Change and Health (Deutsche Allianz Klimawandel und Gesundheit, KLUG) since the summer semester 2019. As the elective in this winter semester focuses primarily on clinical aspects, lectures from previous online events offered by the PHA are referred to for presenting and discussing further connections between climate change and health, especially on a macro level. A listing of the videos can be found on page 4. Furthermore, there will be two additional meetings for the participants from Marburg: One at the beginning of the elective and another one at the end of the elective for reflection in smaller groups, clarification of open questions and further information on the examination performance.

registration, organizational matters and contact details Enrollment and Performance Records:
 Registration via mail with the reference that you come from Marburg, matriculation number and semester to giessen@healthforfuture.de . For students from Marburg 10 places are provided.
Send proof of performance by 3/31/22 to [personal email addresses removed], who will grade the assignment.

Planetary Health Academy Lecture Videos -Viewing Mandatory
No.

information about the examination performance
The examination performance represents a 3-5-page essay (number of pages without cover sheet, table of contents, bibliography, affidavit) on a topic either chosen by the student or selected from the attached list. The topic is to be addressed using a self-selected research question. The evaluation will be done by Prof. Dr. Bösner from the Institute of General Medicine. The submission date can be found under point 2.
Font to be selected is Arial or Times New Roman, font size 12, justified, line spacing 1.5 (for quotes >4 lines indented, font size 11, line spacing 1.15). Page spacing is 2.5 cm at top, 2 cm at bottom, 2 cm at left, 2 cm at right. Page numbers are to be inserted.
The following information must be provided on the cover sheet: University, department, name of the course, own name, matriculation number, address, e-mail address (@students), semester, lecturer, semester of the examination, title (+subtitle) of the essay, place and date.
The citation method can be chosen freely but should be based on the common formats. Direct and indirect quotations must be uniformly identified, and the literature used must be uniformly and comprehensibly indicated in the bibliography. All in all, an essay represents a freer form of personal examination of a topic, so that one's own points of view and opinions can certainly be included.
Suggested topics should be discussed with Prof. Bösner in advance.
Suggested topics for the term paper  The 2003 heat wave in Europe and its consequences  Global inequalities, climate justice and health  Heat protection systems  Heat and Urban Development  Climate-neutral healthcare sector  Gender and Planetary Health  Climate protection in the hospital / the practice / the nursing home  Impact of the climate crisis on a specific organ system (including issues that are not part of the elective, e.g. dermatology, trauma surgery, infectious diseases, neurology, etc.)  "Climate-sensitive health counselling"  Medical ethics and the climate crisis  Suggesting your own topics is encouraged!